The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday attached assets worth over 3 crore of an arrested aide of Shiv Sena MP Bhavana Gawali. The agency said it provisionally attached immovable assets worth 3.75 crore of Saaed Khan in connection with a money laundering case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Khan, who is accused of misappropriating funds from a trust called ‘Mahila Utkarsh Pratishthan’, was arrested by the ED in September. Gawali, 48, is a sitting Lok Sabha member from the Yavatmal-Washim constituency in Maharashtra.
The agency had earlier said Gawali criminally conspired to convert a trust into a private company through Khan by “forgery and fraud” for layering of about 18 crore funds.
The ED had told a Mumbai court that its investigation suggested that misappropriation of funds to the tune of 18.18 crore and theft of 27 crore (cash) had been layered.
The agency told the court that the trust filed for conversion into a Section 8 company by alleged fraudulent forgery of signatures of the management and documents from public institutions.
The total assets of ₹69 crore in the book value (of the trust) were transferred to the newly formed Section 8 company limited, the agency told the court.
The directors of this company, according to the ED, are Khan and Shalinitai Gawall, the mother of the Sena MP. Bhavana Gawali, along with the duo, is stated to be a member of this company.
The ED counsel had claimed that Khan played an active role in forging documents and creating companies.
Khan’s lawyer opposed the ED argument, and said, “Let them (ED) show if any money has come to my account… there is nothing against me…I am targeted because I am affiliated to a state party.” The ED case is based on an FIR registered by Risod police station in Washim district for cheating and criminal breach of trust.
The agency had earlier conducted searches in this case at multiple premises in Yavatmal, Washim and Mumbai.
